Tuesday, May 05, 2020
Historic Change
As this article notes, candidates for public office did not always glad-hand voters and mix with the masses. In the 19th Century and early 20th, they stayed home and their parties did outreach for them. This year, in an historic shift, neither parties nor candidates are knocking on doors, passing out flyers, assembling rallies. COVID-19 has done away with that. Rather, they have taken to the internet to gain name recognition and have discovered it is a discipline requiring new communications methods. Reaching citizens through the internet is hard, as time-consuming as knocking on doors and gathering supporters to events. Candidates are having a tough time using the medium well because they are not used to it. In the past, it was a supplement to person-to-person communication and not the main course. This year, it has taken over. Some candidates will master it. Many will not and will return to old-fashioned retail campaigning once the pandemic is over. For that reason, 2020 will become a case study in what to do and what to avoid online. Candidates and communications practitioners will learn the hard way and those who follow them will build on their successful tactics.
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